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Monday, March 3, 2014

Wheatgrass: a chlorophyll-rich superfood bursting with nutrients

Wheatgrass is a gluten-free food prepared from the young shoots of the wheat plant, Triticum aestivum,
which grows in temperate regions throughout Europe and the United
States. Consumption of wheatgrass only became popular in the Western
world in the 1930s, when an American chemist, Charles L. Schnabel (now
known as the "father of wheatgrass"), began to popularize it. Schnabel
became well-known in the 1940s for stating that "fifteen pounds of
wheatgrass is equal in overall nutritional value to 350 pounds of
ordinary garden vegetables." Though this claim is now considered to be
exaggerated, it is true that wheatgrass is unusually dense in nutrients
and is a potent detox food.

Three reasons to love wheatgrass

1.) Rich in chlorophyll
-- Wheatgrass is one of the world's finest sources of chlorophyll,
often containing over 70 percent of it. Chlorophyll is the molecule that
gives plants their green color, and which helps them to photosynthesize
(convert sunlight into chemical energy). In humans, chlorophyll is a
powerful blood cleaner and builder. It delivers a continuous energy
transfusion into our bloodstream, increasing and replenishing our red
blood cell count while increasing our hemoglobin levels so that our red
blood cells can deliver us increased amounts of oxygen. Since
destructive bacteria cannot exist in the presence of oxygen, eating more
chlorophyll-rich foods like wheatgrass can help guard us from a host of
serious diseases, including cancer.

2.) Treats digestive conditions
-- Wheatgrass contains a large number of digestive enzymes (substances
that help reduce toxic and indigestible materials in food), and is known
to treat several digestive conditions. One 2002 study published in the Scandinavian Journal of Gastroenterology, for instance, found that wheatgrass juice could help treat ulcerative colitis, an inflammatory bowel disease similar to Crohn's. Additionally, the UCLA Brain Research Institute
found that wheatgrass can help improve indigestion, irritable bowel
syndrome and acid reflux. Moreover, due to its high fiber content
(weight by weight, wheatgrass contains 200 percent the fiber of bran),
wheatgrass is also a well-known cure for constipation.

3.) Extremely nutrient-dense
-- Perhaps wheatgrass' biggest draw is its phenomenal concentration of
minerals, which rivals (and, in some cases, exceeds) that of
better-known supergreens. According to a spectral analysis provided by Self's
"NutritionData," four grams of wheatgrass (equivalent to one tablespoon
of powder or 8 x 500 milligram tablets) contain 1,600 percent of our
recommended daily intake (RDI) of vitamin E, 733 percent of our RDI of
thiamin, 15,293 percent of our RDI of riboflavin, 1,250 percent of our
RDI of niacin, 1,950 percent of our RDI of vitamin B6 and 7,000 percent
of our RDI of manganese.

Wheatgrass also contains huge amounts of
zinc, copper, iron, pantothenic acid and vitamin K, as well as smaller
amounts of vitamins A and C. This nutrient profile makes wheatgrass an
excellent health supplement, and one that is far more potent (and
natural) than the synthetic multivitamins found in supermarkets. Like
most plant foods, wheatgrass contains no vitamin B12.